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by AliceRulesMyWorld
Summary: When Harris escapes and Elliot's return to the squad flips Benson's world on its head the team must race to find Harris before he finds Olivia
1. Chapter 1

**Please tell me I'm not the only one who was getting Carisi/Rollins vibes from ep 10?**

He could have taken the elevator. It's the logical thing to do because, Christ, the one-six is on level ten and— _what are you doing here; go home, go home, go home—_ he's not quite as in shape as he used to be. He walks into the precinct that used to be a second residence but now is so foreign and as he looks around— _go home, go home, go home; you don't belong here anymore!—_ he notices that nothing is the same. The atmosphere is different and two of the detectives-a silver haired man leaning over a blonde haired woman-are much too close to each other for it to be professional—he can't believe Cragen would allow that. But, he sees, the office is no longer Cragen's. He approaches the door that belongs to Sergeant Olivia Benson— _go home, go home, go home, rings the chanting in his head—_ and he knocks. Entirely ignores the dark-haired man standing with a hand on each of Liv's hips. She's his Liv, goddammit and even though they never touched— _you don't belong here, Stabler, he keeps thinking_ —the fact that this kid _is_ touching her just rubs him the wrong way. He, for reasons unkown— _who are you kidding, you know the reasons—_ has kept up, at least a little on Olivia. He knows about Lewis and—Christ, he should've been there— about how he walked. Took her a second time. And he should've been there then, too— _but you weren't, comes the traitorous voice, you weren't—_ but he didn't know how to just walk back into her life. What could he have said? What would have made her listen, when she didn't want to hear? She tells the man to go and he mutters a Spanish endearment _Mi propio Corazon_ and Elliot's not fluent in Spanish but he understands some words and that endearment would sound stupid in English. His eyes drink her in and she's giving him the soft, unassuming look she gives perps when everything else has failed. He never understood how she could get them to talk when his intimidation didn't but now that she's doing it to him he gets it. Because with that soft, understanding smile— _which is fitting, because it's the look she gives dirt-bags—_ she makes him want to talk. He wants to explain and tell her the truth. Maybe she decides, then, that she doesn't want to hear, because after a second the face drops and it is replaced with anger and her voice grows cold and she's not interested in catching up, because he left without a word— _you did this—_ instead she asks him what he wants. So many things, he wants to say. He wants her to forgive him. He wants what they had. He wants it to be that simple. He wants to kiss her, because he's always wanted to kiss her and _goddammit he wants her to look at him!_ And she does and he has no convincing speech prepared. He doesn't even really know why he's here and so he spits out the first thing he can think of and he realizes he's just asked for his job back— _in for a penny, eh? He thinks satirically—_ and the next thing he knows he has it. And there are requirements and stipulations. His temper has to be controlled. He has to tolerate Amaro, who he will certainly not like. He cannot control Liv. "You would call it protecting." Her voice is cutting, mocking, bitter. Slices through him like a knife.

She calls him out on having left her to watch her own back and he thinks perhaps this is his opening to apologize— _do it quickly! The voice in his head screams—_ but she's not looking for an apology. She's not looking for an explanation. She wants him out of her office. And he goes.

Before he leaves he has to know, has to ask her what happened to his _Semper Fi_ medal.

"It's in the bottom of the Hudson somewhere."

The brutally honest comment stirs up an agonizing pain inside him. He turns around almost immediately and locks her office door. Demands that they have a real talk. About his leaving. About her feelings. And he knows this isn't the time or the place— _fuck that, you have to tell her!—_ and she knows, too. She tells him she's not sure when will be the time. Not until Harris is found after his escape, at least, and they know he's looking for Liv—Sergeant Benson, she demands he call her—so it's more important than ever that they find the creep. He tells her that he knows; he'd guessed; Sealview wasn't really a secret; they let her think they didn't know.

She never told him the truth about Sealview. He knows why— _you would've killed him; you still will—_ but that doesn't mean her lie is any less painful to him. She could tell him now, he thinks, unless she knows his feelings haven't changed. That if it is him who finds Harris he will also be the last person to see him alive. She confirms this. Tells him that it is the same reason she hopes 'Nick' does not find Harris. Her two former partners, she insists, are so very alike.

He doesn't understand why he is so hurt. She didn't tell Cragen or Munch either. They all figured it out—she knew about the mole, after all—but she never confided in anyone and so it should never have hurt Elliot so damn much— _you have no right to be upset—_ but somehow it did hurt. He does not tell her this. She does not ask. Perhaps she doesn't have to. Maybe she's always known this—known _him._ It hits him, though, that her new team knows. They understand why they have to find Harris so obviously she didn't keep the secret from them and, for that, he thinks he is allowed to feel betrayed.

She dismisses him, again, and finally he goes, badge and gun in tow. He asks the blonde from before, whom introduces herself as Rollins, though everyone else calls her Amanda, what they've got on the case and his world narrows to the note that was found in Harris's cell; _I want what every man wants, Benson._ And the three, four once Liv joins them, work in tandem and he is simply there. She sends him with Carisi to talk to the guards. Although Carisi is a tad exuberant, he does not hold the same grudge. He trusted Olivia's judgment that much. If she hired him back, he must be good, and the squad would work with him. "Or Sarge will have our badges."

And although Elliot wants to say something rude or snappy, this kid, Carisi, is his only ally. He'll take what he can get and so he thanks Carisi, although he knows, though the younger detective does not show it, that the pleasantry is for Liv's sake.

He's done plenty of things for Liv's sake, too, after all.

So he gets it.


	2. Chapter 2

They return to the squad room to find a dead silence. Carisi looked at Fin, who informed him another note has come. _And you're going to give it to me_. The notes are part of the same phrase, clearly, and they mean something to Liv. Elliot strains his hearing and he can hear, "He's not here; you're okay. He's not here; you're okay. Will you come out from under the desk, Liv? You're Liv now; you're Olivia; Olivia Benson; Sergeant Olivia Benson and you are in control. He's not here."

She tells him she knows. She hears him anyway. The baton running along a fence echoes. She can't hear anything else. There is nothing else.

In response, Nick begins to sing to her, a Spanish lullaby, and the hush in the bull pen changes. Goes from tense to calm. The two were whispering before, but Nick is singing loudly, determined to drown out the noises that Liv is hearing and everyone can hear him. The lullaby ends after what must be at least three verses and after a minute or two more Amaro and Liv emerge. She walks over to the file folder, opens it and drops the note in. Takes a deep breath. "Where are we on this?"

Elliot is certain that even he couldn't have calmed Liv down from that.

He recognizes that.

It's a flashback.

And Jesus, he thinks, why didn't anyone tell him— _why should they, the thought strikes_ —that Liv still suffered from PTSD? She'd seen someone for that, he had thought, not that it was his business. He used to always poke his nose in— _not when it mattered, though, Stabler_ —and make it his business.

Lewis, he realizes. Lewis is the reason for this relapse and he's built onto it and Elliot has never hated anyone quite so much. And he is furious at her partner, because he wasn't there— _hypocrite, hypocrite, his brain chants_ —and he should've been because, goddammit, that's what partners do!

It isn't, though.

Partners aren't obligated to follow each other home. Sleep on their couch even if they don't want you. Elliot had always done it because he cared too much about Liv, thought she was his— _not now, not then, the voice taunts_ —and he had never fully trusted her to take care of herself.

Maybe, he thinks, he was right not to— _God, Stabler, she's more competent than you are, he thinks_ — because less than a year after he left she gets kidnapped, fucking kidnapped. Okay, the guy was crazy and smart and he would've gotten her somehow but the squad didn't have to make it so easy— _you don't know what precautions they took! He chides himself_ —somehow, though, it was easy, for this guy at least.

So many years later she can still read him, every nuance— _this is why Kathy always wondered, Stabler_ —and as she looks at him her eyes narrow, as she recognizes the piece of him only she has ever had. She reminds him of how stubborn she is. How no one could have known. How Lewis had practically confessed and still gotten away. Escaped from prison. How insane he was. How everything just came together the wrong way, and it's no one's fault but Lewis's.

Isn't that what we tell victims?

And she's right, it is, but he doesn't want to consider her a victim because she is Olivia Benson, dammit, and she's not a victim. The more she holds that steady gaze the more he realizes that yes Olivia—his beautiful Olivia—is a goddam victim. He could've stood beside her— _you're such a prick, Stabler, he tells himself_ —he could've done something, but he didn't.

He realizes that while she can still read him like a fucking book, he can't tell for shit what she's thinking. He used to know, just by the way her arms were crossed— _of fucking course Kathy was always worried_ —what she was feeling. She has different quirks now and it infuriates him— _you don't get to be furious_ —that he can't understand her and that Amaro—that name makes him sick—looks at her, fleetingly, and sees everything.

He wishes that Amaro would mess up, just once— _you did it enough, rings the venomous thought_ —but the stupid prick won't. Instead fucking…fucking… _Chachi_ addresses her, as Liv no less, which is his name for her— _oh yours? So you would've taken that from her, too? His mind seeps venom_ —and asks if she wants to be alone; tells her there is no one in the cribs or on the roof, if she can stand it. She tells him she's going to go to the roof and when he reiterates his question, asks if she wants to be alone, she says something that Elliot cannot believe.

No.

Since when does she grieve with other people, he wonders, and this reminds him that he doesn't know her at all. At some point between his leaving and his returning Olivia opened up. She was happy— _she wasn't dealing with_ you—and she was even more beautiful than she was the day he left her.

Then Chachi really floors him because he has one more question; it's not something Elliot would've thought to ask. He asks Olivia if she wants him. She shakes her head. Zara and Noah. She requests, in lieu of her...whatever he was to her. Elliot doesn't know who Zara and Noah are, but he's pleased that she'd rather have them.

Home. She changes her mind decisively.

Chachi nods silently. Helps her into her coat. Hands her the keys and receives a smile. Elliot can hear Olivia reassuring Chachi—always worrying about everyone else—that she will be okay. She needs to see her little mija and her baby mijo— _well now you know who Zara and Noah are, still grateful_ — and Elliot is quite tired of this Spanglish thing those two have going on but mostly he cottons on that she has kids— _and you missed, that Stabler, you missed it_ —and he is really quite sure they are Chachi's kids too. It stings him. While he'd always thought that Olivia had deserved kids, the selfish part of his mind, the part that betrayed Kathy and Olivia and everything he loved, had hoped she wouldn't. That maybe— _your own arrogance makes you sick, Stabler_ —she was holding out for him.

He thinks that, before he'd left, she was. In a twisted combination of love and self-preservation she had been waiting for him while pushing him towards his wife at every turn. That was before. He still thinks that perhaps she waited then but when he left— _yes, you left_ —she got over him. And she found Chachi. He hadn't anticipated that she might be different. He had expected Detective Olivia Benson, his Olivia.

But this Olivia, Sergeant Benson…he hadn't been ready for her.

And she was ready for anything.


	3. Chapter 3

**I know Nick and Carisi aren't on the show at the same time, but because I've added the relationship with Olivia, I think he'd be more likely to stay, so I rolled with it.**

The prison guards, unsurprisingly, were very little help. Many of the guards actually sympathized— _is everyone always on a fucking power trip, he asks himself—_ with Harris. So much so that Carisi spent much of the return trip wondering if _every_ prison guard is a piece of crap. Elliot had begun to wonder the same thing, though he didn't voice it. Fin, who did an undercover stint as a prison guard— _that fucking undercover op, the voice inside grits its teeth—_ which Elliot will never forget, answered the question when they went over the underwhelming evidence they had gathered.

 _Not all._

But dammit if it didn't feel like the guards were purposely holding something back. They had oozed cluelessness—too much cluelessness. Sure, there was that sense of solidarity and to an extent they were probably protecting Harris, but there was a big something they were hiding, and it may well be the lead they needed. They had skipped a step, Elliot thought and so he posed the question they should've begun with. "Who helped him escape?"

Because that's the only way— _Harris isn't that smart, he thinks—_ that the twisted prick could possibly have escaped.

And it's got to be the only way he's still at large; if he has somewhere to stay and if they can just figure out who is helping him that will be that. They're probably the same person. But— _you've never been so out of place, Christ—_ how does he communicate that with these people? At this point, he's not even sure how to communicate it to Liv. He looks her in the eyes; perhaps that will be enough— _are you stupid? Seeps venom—_ and she will know, like she used to.

And— _thank you, Jesus—_ she does. After all these years she still does and that gives him a hope— _you have no right to feel hope—_ that maybe they can have, well, something. Their easy partnership, the most important relationship of his life because God knows that relationship wasn't with Kathy.

 _She has a piece of you I never will. Kathy had once said._

 _Yeah. He'd replied. Trust me, you don't want that piece._

 _Why? Why won't you talk to me? Why won't you_ ever _just let me all the way in?_

 _Once, he then told her stonily, we walked into a house to find five children shot to death. The youngest was holding his pacifier and wearing a teddy bear shirt. That's the piece of me and of my life that Liv gets. You want it?_

She hadn't looked at him for three days after that.

And she stopped being so torn up about that missing piece.

He probably— _definitely—_ shouldn't have told her that. The one thing he most strove to do was keep her and the kids from ever seeing the things he did; keep them from having those images in his head. Not only had he messed up— _failed spectacularly, you mean, says the voice—_ but he had purposely told her those things. He just wanted her to shut up. To stop with that particular argument. Yet, it seemed by answering her question he'd done more damage than anything had before. More damage than his never being home. More damage than the amount of time— _too much time—_ he spent with Liv. Giving into one of her demands had been the first real hurtle that they couldn't overcome. They had powered through it instead, moving forward but leaving the damage done.

He thinks that Olivia is the most important relationship in his life— _you're alone on that one, Stabler—_ even if he is not hers. Even if the relationship is starting over from less than scratch. He can fix it. He fixes things all the time. The sink, Lizzie's car, his leaking roof, Kathy's electricity. He's always fixing things. Surely, _surely_ , he can fix this.

And it's a good sign that she still _sees_ him, he's sure of it.

"Let's have a chat with the guards at Sealview," she instructs, "particularly Parker."

"Any angle we should take with him?" Fin queries.

"Whatever you think will work."

"Why Parker? And he got a first name?" Nick asks her.

"He grabbed my ass first day I was UC. He and Harris were buddies." She knows Nick is fuming, but he's heard all this and the wall of his apartment has already seen his feelings about Parker. Besides that, Fin will stop him if need be. "If anyone does know something—and somebody does—he will. Press him. Bring him to the station. Let him sweat." She eyes Elliot, "Let's not hurt him, though." Elliot's blood boils at the thought of another guard who had gotten off free after touching her, and she obviously knew it. He thinks Nick should be more furious than he is, but then he looks in Nick's eyes. The anger is simmering, and he knows— _cause she can see anger, she can smell it—_ in an instant _that's_ why she sent Fin with him.

"And Nick?"

A half-smile is resting on his lips, "Si, Novia?" Fin rolls his eyes— _somebody, finally was on Elliot's side—lucky you Stabler—_ and Elliot follows suit.

"Of course he has a first name. Dean."

"Always with the Deans." Elliot scowls to himself.

"That's enough, Stabler."Comes Olivia's voice, sharply. "And don't _you_ worry about it, Amaro." A teasing lilt then.

He sticks his hands in his pockets, looking for all the world like the cat who ate the canary as he closes his mouth, from which the question was clearly about to fall. "Yes, ma'am."

"Fin. Take Nick. And you two," she adds, turning towards Amanda and Stabler. We have another case. Should be open and shut. Vic's name is, uh," She consults her file, "Shelby Cooper. She's at Mercy. Go."

Rollins smirks to herself because she is really waiting for those fireworks. She can see that Nick and Stabler are about to crash into each other, head-first. And ooh, she wants to be there when the house blows up.

It's going to be epic.

It's going to be soon. And when Nick and Stabler bump into each other leaving the precinct she smiles at Stabler— _he saw a cat smile like that once, he thinks wryly—_ and it's almost an evil grin.

It's really going to be something.


	4. Chapter 4

According to Fin, Parker's not cooperating but it's obvious he knows something. Naturally, they arrested him. As fucking Chachi drags him though the precinct with entirely more force than necessary Olivia exits her office. Eyes Parker. Calls Fin to her office immediately.

 _Did you hit him? Or did Nick?_

 _He was resisting arrest._

Olivia decides she believes him. She can afford _that much_ gullibility.

Everyone decides to watch the interrogation, which is being handled by Fin and Rollins.

The fatal flaw to this, Elliot thinks, is that Olivia finds herself— _everyone's worst nightmare—_ standing between himself and Chachi—the ex and the missus. She has realized it, too, he thinks because she's looking between the two men, pinching the bridge of her noise as if to fend off a coming headache. Preemptively. Nothing has been said yet— _give it five, he thinks to himself—_ but soon the testosterone levels are going to blow the roof. And he knows it and everyone knows it and— _temper, temper, Stabler—_ they're both going to deserve it.

They settle in to watch the two detectives work.

Fin tries the sympathetic approach; that he understands, they were just prisoners, they don't _really_ count. Amanda makes mention that one of those 'prisoners' is their Sergeant and it counts now, doesn't it?

They can drop the obstruction of justice chargers if he does them a favor.

 _Tell us about Harris._

He gives them that same, halted story. He doesn't know anything, he's got nothing to tell them. They remind him he still works in the prison system. That they will have him fired so fast it'll make his head spin—and they'll talk to the prisoners and tack on sexual assault. His choice. He can lose his job or lose his job _and_ go to prison. What, they ask him, does he think happened to Harris? Crime, like dark hair, sometimes runs in the family. Brothers and sisters, specifically. The prisoners at Sealview may well be connected to the prisoners at Rikers.

 _Let your imagination do the rest._

Amanda turns to Fin. Asks how long he can serve for Obstruction of Justice. How long he can serve for sexual assault and _did they mention the prisoner whose butt he grabbed is a Sergeant in SVU?_

The deal stands— _why even is there a deal, thinks Elliot—_ until they leave the room. Then it's gone and fifteen years in prison for you, Parker.

Liv answers her phone and then pinches the bridge of her nose again. It almost looks painful. She tells them that they have a vic at Bellevue. She looks between them. Shakes her head—she's not sending them together.

 _Stabler,_ she says, _with me_

He gives Nick a smug grin; she gives Nick instructions to step in if need be. And as she walks out of the squadroom she hears, "Fin! Take a walk!" This brings fond memories to the forefront for Elliot because he remembered Cragen saying the same thing. To him, mostly. He is pleased to find that he and Liv still fall into step beside each other. By the time they enter the hospital they are completely in sync.

Olivia introduces herself and then Elliot— _her partner Elliot, he inwardly rejoices—_ and tells Jennifer that they need to ask her a couple of questions. The girl falters. Asks Olivia to repeat her name.

 _He talked about you_.

And fuck, he thinks, fuck. This is exactly what he knows Liv was afraid of. Other people getting hurt so he could get to her. And he knows this is how Lewis got his hands on her and he knows she'll suffer it again to protect.

 _He said you ruined him; embarrassed him._

Olivia closed her eyes, believing she was to blame for this. She starts to ask her questions, somewhat distantly and the girl says something that positively makes Elliot's heart soar.

 _It's not your fault. It's his._

Liv has heard the platitude. She's given it. She's even accepted it. But she doesn't accept that this fourteen year old girl had to go through this. She can't. But she gives her assurances anyway, that they're going to find him, get him, convict him and he's not going to like the consequences. Stabler's been undercover at Oswald Penitentiary so the Feds owe him one—and Harris _is_ going to Oz, labeled as a child molester. He'll get his, they try to assure her. She appears to be.

They go back to the house, visibly upset. They know exactly who did this and, presently, had no way of getting him, unless something was coaxed out of Parker. They return to find Rollins and Fin in the box, _Chachi_ talking to Parker _._

 _Rollins tried getting submissive and sexual and I tried getting angry. Right now we think the sympathetic approach will work the best._

Amaro is telling Parker he gets it. He thought she was a prisoner and they're in prison because they lost their rights. They literally have no rights. That his Sergeant— _that bitter tone legitimate, Stabler wonders—_ went UC at the time. That, fortunately, he wasn't in the unit at the time. The brass is on their case since it was one of their own—and how was Parker supposed to know that, really?

He's got to talk to Harris, he tells Parker. He needs his side of the story so he can help him as best he can. And he is so convincing that Parker gives Harris up. Fin starts to complain. He and Rollins spent an hour in there, Amaro's got the information in twenty minutes. Elliot finds himself suspicious. Most UC's aren't even that good of actors.

 _Getting all buddy-buddy with a sex-offender?_ Elliot says in a light tone, belied by the threat on his face.

 _To find the guy after Liv? Absolutely._

 _Well, you're some actor._

Fin is frantically trying to find Olivia, who went to get the warrant for the address Parker gave. This is a problem. She's the only one who can possibly get between them without further repercussions.

No one is completely sure who threw the first punch.

Rollins looks absolutely thrilled in a 'Ooh, they're fighting it out on the ice' kind of way. Her smile just widens and widens.

 _Kaboom_.


	5. Chapter 5

When Liv returns with the warrants (a search warrant and an arrest warrant) Fin is trying desperately to get between the two men to no avail. The moment Olivia yells they straighten up and step away from each other. Her voice is deadly; they were more likely to survive an asp.

 _What the hell is going on here?_

Elliot has never heard that tone of voice from Liv before. The rest of the team, even though they did nothing wrong straightens up immediately. Amaro apologizes, even referring to his girlfriend by rank.

 _It was nothing, Liv._

Big mistake. Huge.

She turned on him— _nice going, he thinks bitterly—_ and narrows her eyes. Her voice goes from cold to arctic as she informs him— _was it not obvious, Stabler—_ that that was a rhetorical question. Moreover, a fist fight in the middle of her squad room is _not_ nothing, and what did she say about his temper? She thanks Fin for attempting to pry them apart before sending Elliot— _like a scolded child, he fumes, why not drag me by the ear_ —to the roof and sends _Chachi_ to her office. Putting them in separate corners, as if they are toddlers. He mentions this to her and she curtly points out that they're acting like children, so why shouldn't she treat them that way? She continues to berate him. Talks about his behavior and his attitude and how he should be a bit more grateful for his second chance. Well, he suddenly realizes, he should've taken his cue from the kid and apologized. He wipes the blood from his nose and grimaces as he realizes it's broken. He interrupts Olivia, informing her of the break. She clenches her jaw, reaches forward and snaps it back into place. He flinches. She ignores it.

 _There. Quit your bitching._

She will not be stopped. She's on a tirade now and plowing on like a tornado. He's an adult, at least she was under that impression. She's less sure now. He's being unprofessional. This is completely ridiculous and did he forget that you're not supposed to hit team members or what? Her voice is positively dripping with disdain. The longer she talks the worse it gets until finally her tone is venomous.

She cuts herself off, perhaps knowing that if she continues poison will fall off her tongue and irreversible damage will be done. Years later she still knows how to destroy Elliot with just her words— _she's done it a million times, after all—_ and she has to stop herself. Grits her teeth. Changes direction.

 _Jesus, Elliot. Why did I hire you back? I should've known you couldn't play nice with Nick. What's your objection to him, exactly? That he replaced you, because green's not a good look for you. Or is it that he's my boyfriend? Because either way, you better get over it, Stabler._ Her eyes flash angrily and for just a second he's worried she may push him off the roof. _Get your shit together or stay out of my squad room. You're not some beat cop. You're a Detective. Act like it._

They've touched, luckily for him, on the one thing she can't really run with. The job. Because he knows, as does she, that he's damn good at his job. They both know why she hired him back. They both know she's not getting rid of him, either. Especially with Harris on the loose.

Maybe if he and Amaro play nice she'll let them bring in Harris, he thinks optimistically. In a body bag, maybe?

With one last admonition to not act like a five year old, she spins on her heel.

He watches, utterly stunned, as she walks away.

Partly because he's angry because, well, that hurt; mostly because if she were angry at someone she worked with she normally wouldn't have reacted so strongly. She behaved that way because he's not just a coworker. Somewhere inside, she still considers him a friend. Still, having a bone reset hurts like hell. He's not sure if he's pleased or isn't. But then he thinks back on her parting words and smiles so wide he might break a jaw to go with the nose.

She called him Elliot.

But ouch.

His optimism, as it turns out, is misplaced. Rollins and Carisi have already gone to Harris's address. And while they didn't find Harris, instead assigning two unis to the address, they got every last item of evidence out of the apartment. It is all on the table near the evidence board and Amaro looks livid, gripping the edge of the table until his knuckles were white. There are no fewer than a hundred pictures of Liv strewn across, another thirty are hanging. Elliot let out a breath. Harris isn't fucking around. The pictures aren't just of Olivia. If that were the case she wouldn't look so afraid. There are also several where she is with children. A little girl who is obviously Hispanic and a brown-eyed, brown-haired little boy. Elliot's eyes immediately narrow in understanding. These are Zara and Noah. And even as Carisi and Rollins go to answer another call, probably a Harris victim, Elliot's eyes are glued to Olivia while she looks at the picture of her kids.

 _I'll kill him_

Elliot looks at her because, for all her calm, for all her conviction that they can't just do what they want to the perps, she had looked prepared to make an exception, and then she'd voiced it. He is wholly tempted to encourage her, but he knows he can't. Besides which, he is pretty sure she wouldn't. She'd shoot his knee cap, and drop him in an instant. But she wouldn't kill him unless he became a danger. She values her job too much for that. He hopes.

 _Another vic, Liv_ rings the voice of her youngest detective.

 _Go_

They do precisely that, leaving Olivia and Amaro in their places. Fin stands to the side uselessly and Elliot knows there's not much you can say to comfort someone whose kids are in danger. Eventually Fin takes control of the situation, reminding them they've got Harris to catch. He sits down with financials and Olivia tells Elliot to visit Parker and take another swing. He knows more and he's going to tell them what. She can't decide if he needs a warning or not. In the end she gives him a half-hearted _don't touch him_ and allows her earlier reaction to speak for what she'll do if he loses it again. Still, he thinks, if anyone deserves _cosmetics a la Stabler,_ it's Parker and Harris. But he won't touch them. He respects Liv too much for that.

He's got all this rage, just boiling over


End file.
